Obama's made several mistakes, and one of them is his pledge to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

The first thing that needs to happen is to get rid of Karzai - his regime is hopelessly crooked, as are most governments in countries so heavily involved with illegal drugs.

The people of Afghanistan have no confidence in their public officials, and with good reason. Until they can have confidence there will be no allegiance to it. And until the people of a country have allegiance to a central government there is no sense trying to rid it of those opposed to the government.

Can't be done in a place like Afghanistan, were boots on the ground are necessary and there is too much ground, not enough boots.

Even in the mid-1970s travel in the countryside was accomplished during the day. At night the roads and highways belonged to the badguys.

Folks will die, as in Iraq, in Vietnam, in vain.

Arf